Curtis, who had heart bypass surgery in 1994, suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was hospitalized in July after he had trouble breathing. The actor almost died in 2006, when he contracted pneumonia and was in a coma for several days.Born Bernard Schwartz, Curtis, who joined the Navy during World War II, signed a contract with Universal Pictures in 1948 at age 23 and made his film debut a year later in Criss Cross.Handsome and athletic, Curtis admitted that he banked on his looks early in his career, but he became a respected actor with a trio of acclaimed hits: 1957's

His personal life was filled with turmoil. Once arrested on a marijuana possession charge, he did a stint at the Betty Ford Clinic. He was married six times. His first and most famous union was with Janet Leigh, a marriage that produced actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis. The couple divorced in 1962 after 11 years. Curtis had four more children, including son Nicholas, who died in 1994 at age 23 of a heroin overdose. Curtis had difficult relationships with all of his kids and was notoriously estranged from Jamie Lee until about 30 years ago."I understand him better now," she told People in 1980, "perhaps not as a father but as a man."Curtis is survived by his wife, equestrian Jill Vandenburg, whom he wed in 1998, and his five children.